Environmentalist Donnachadh McCarthy, the founder of www.nationalcarbonfootprintday.org and www.3acorns.co.uk, on how Councils could save money by being more eco friendly.
I was calmly reading my annual council-tax statement from Southwark Council when something extraordinary jumped out at me from the figures. In relation to the total council-tax the figures for waste disposal looked ridiculously high. Grabbing my calculator I found Southwark was spending an eye-watering 37% of council-tax on waste-collection and disposal. What a pointless waste of taxpayers’ money.
Researching the figures for councils across England and Wales revealed that a THIRD of the council-tax requirement for English District Councils is spent collecting and disposing of waste. For all councils including the Unitaries and London boroughs the figure is 20%. The total annual figure is a staggering £4,500 million.
The good news for Tory councillors is that something can be done if the political will exists. I have not had a wheelie-bin collection from my house for non-recyclable waste for more than 13 years. I produce less than half a wheelie bin of non-recyclable waste every year, so I have no ugly contraption in my front garden. It really is possible even in the inner city!
The key to this success was simply changing how I shop. My bread, cakes, jams, cheese, eggs, fruit and vegetables etc all come either with no packaging or which can be returned to the farmers market. I use a shaving brush instead of shaving-foam, toothbrushes with replaceable heads and so on.
Having discovered how much council-tax was being wasted on waste, I looked into what councils are doing to prevent this expenditure in the first place. The truth proved sadly to be very little. In London out of a budget of over £700 million, less than £1 million is spent on waste minimisation.
Most councils pay lip-service to the waste hierarchy of reduce, re-use, recycle but practically nothing is invested in reduction. Instead contracts for incineration, recycling plants and new landfill sites are being signed all over the country tying tax-payers into hugely expensive commitments, sometimes exceeding £4 BILLION pounds each for 20 years.
For Tory councillors committed to spending council tax wisely, waste minimisation is a win/win, without even having to mention the huge environmental benefits of slashing carbon emissions and saving precious resources.
Some councils are already realising the value in this approach. West Sussex has an ambitious target of reducing total waste by 80,000 tonnes by 2015. As compostable waste makes up to a third of household waste, Worcestershire Council requires home-composting for residents with gardens. Remember every tonne of waste not created could be a tonne of waste your council does not have to pay for disposing of.
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